Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to follow the member for Hindmarsh in speaking on this motion. He has done the parliament a service and he has done the elderly community of Australia a service with this motion. In particular, I want to place on the record the elements of the motion. First, the House joins Osteoporosis Australia and the International Osteoporosis Foundation in promoting World Osteoporosis Day on Thursday 20 October 2011 and going forward on similar dates in future years. Second, more than 1.2 million Australians have osteoporosis—that is five per cent and above of the population. Third, an Australian is admitted to hospital with an osteoporotic fracture every six minutes. Fourth, half of all women aged over 60 and one-third of men will have an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime. Fifth, after suffering a hip fracture, about one-quarter of people will die within a year. I assume this applies to the cohort over the age of 60; but if it does not it is even worse. My assumption is that for the over 60s that is an extraordinary figure, and it was one which was a revelation to me. Sixth, we recognise and support Osteoporosis Australia in its campaign to raise awareness about this silent disease, which affects our health and independence as we age. Seventh, we acknowledge how simple it is to prevent osteoporosis, with calcium from eating the right foods, vitamin D from safe levels of sunlight and regular weight-bearing exercise throughout life. Finally, the House supports action which works to ensure that all Australians are aware of the risk factors and the measures they can take to prevent this debilitating disease.

Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, let me address this motion from three levels—firstly, as a representative in the national parliament looking at the national challenge; secondly, and in particular, as the member for Flinders, which has the oldest population of any seat in Victoria and, on the latest figures I have seen, the fifth oldest population of any seat in Australia; and, thirdly, as the son of Alan, who is now 84 and who has great challenges—but we are working through them—with his own fitness and ability to move, things which are in part linked to the challenges of ageing, of frailness, of control and of exercise.

Let me begin at the national level. The member for Hindmarsh raises an issue which has not, I believe, to date been given the airing it deserves: 1.2 million people have a significant condition which is a vulnerability in many cases and an affliction in many others. The vulnerability is something which can be treated—not cured as such, but managed. The three things which are identified in this motion as being fundamental—diet, sunlight, exercise—are elements which can be offered to our seniors, in particular those who face isolation. As we craft our aged and community care support services, both in residence and in assistance for those living at home, we need to build in the component of wellbeing, not just management. Wellbeing is the key element. It is osteo and it is other conditions which can and do afflict those who are over 60, increasingly those who are over 70 and especially those who are over 80. The answer here is not just education—although education of sons and daughters and of carers is critical—but active programs where these notions are built into the care and treatment of our seniors.

That brings me in particular to the electorate of Flinders. Flinders has listed on the electoral roll approximately 37,636 people aged 60 and over, although those numbers change on a daily basis. That is about 37 per cent of the entire enrolled population of the electorate, which is close to 100,000. That is a huge population requiring support and care. An incredible number are deeply active, but a significant number, particularly as they get beyond 70 and 80, are vulnerable not just to osteo but to other afflictions of mobility and movement—the ability to take care of themselves. It is the sad fact which accompanies ageing that the joy of being a grandparent is often accompanied by the realities of our physical beings.

Against that background, there are two great tasks which I think are fundamental to the care and maintenance of our seniors within the electorate of Flinders, particularly in this area of osteo. The first is to push unceasingly for a southern peninsula aquatics centre. I am pleased that the council has approved a structure plan which will be the foundation for developing and ultimately achieving the goal of a southern peninsula aquatics centre. I am less fussed than some as to exactly where it is. My preference is the foreshore but, amongst the different options, that does not bother me. I do not want the perfect to be the enemy of the good. I would much rather achieve this earlier rather than later. That means, though, that we must keep pushing until we have the plan agreed within the council, approved by the state, and built and constructed. It is a goal to which I remain committed. It is a goal to which I will be committed. It is a goal which we will simply pursue as a community until it is achieved, because hydrotherapy is fundamental to seniors because of its ability to combat many of the early warning signs and many of the afflictions in terms of bodily trauma which come from osteo and related conditions of frailness.

Having such an aquatic centre is also, of course, incredibly good for families and for teaching young people to swim. It is a great asset as a tourism destination for the southern peninsula. But at this moment we are focused on the needs and care requirements of our 37,000 over-60s. A hydrotherapy centre would be a magnet for wellbeing on the peninsula.

Similarly, on Philip Island we have lost Warley hospital. Warley remains vacant. The owner would prefer to use it as a medical facility, and my view is that it can and should be used as an adjunct to the Bass Coast hospital network. That means it could be linked as a satellite to the Wonthaggi campus. A seniors rehabilitation centre would be a perfect use, although I am not being prescriptive. We have an empty, viable medical facility and so long as it is incorporated into the existing state system and so long as it is an appropriate satellite—it could be used for palliative care, rehabilitation, seniors' services; any one or a combination of these—it would be a great asset to an island with a significant elderly population. So, in the same way that we will keep fighting until we have a southern peninsula aquatic centre, there is just no question that as long as it takes, we will battle, work and push to have Warley hospital facility used as part of the Bass Coast hospital network. That is a goal from which we cannot walk.

I want to turn, lastly, to my role as a son. My father, Alan Hunt, is 84. He is much more frail now. I could not say whether he has osteoporosis. I am a dumb Australian male and my father is similarly—

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